Secondary: 1 Week too Soon?

[secinarot]

I am working on a American Pale Ale. I had planned to rack to my carboy after 1 week (fermentation looked to be done by that point), but ended up leaving it in the primary for 2 weeks due to my schedule. I'm thinking about bottling this weekend as I have the time. That would mean it's in the secondary for only 1 week. Am I getting any benefit out of just 1 week in the secondary? OG was 1.046 and FG was 1.013 going into the carboy.

 

[Parker36]

Sure, some stuff will fall out and with an OG of 1.046, I would say that 3 weeks fermenting is probably enough. Lots of people here don't secondary at all, so its not a big issue. I would just double check to make sure that your FG is constant to avoid bottle bombs.

 

[BarleyWater]

Not really the prefered method, I would wait another week personally, but I am known to put off bottling as long as possible these days anyway. You stirred up stuff transfering, and an extra week will help more of it drop out. Next time, if you want to bottle aflter 3 weeks, just leave it in the primary the while time, then transfer to a bottling bucket to bottle. No need for a secondary uless you are doing long term aging, or adding something like fruit or dry hops.